Despite the growth of renewable energy, coal-fired power generation will remain the main energy source for Vietnam in the coming decades. Phung Quoc Hien, vice chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam, said at a meeting between the Parliament’s Economic Committee and Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh that if there is no coal-fired power generation, Vietnam will have to face energy insecurity.
Phung Quoc Hien said that with the rapid development of renewable energy including solar and wind energy in recent years, many places have stopped accepting new coal-fired power generation projects, which has led to a shortage of electricity supply.
Data from the Vietnam Energy Association (VEA) shows that renewable energy, including solar, wind and small hydropower plants, accounted for 15.8% of Vietnam’s energy supply last year, compared with 36.1% for coal-fired power generation and 30.8 for hydropower generation. %.
However, Vietnam needs to ensure power security in the next few years, and coal power will still play an important role in achieving this goal.
The Minister of Industry and Trade also stated that in the new energy development plan drafted by the Ministry for the period 2021-2030, coal power will still account for 36-37% of the total power supply. He said, "Coal energy does not have to be given up."
A report compiled by the Ministry shows that Vietnam’s power supply growth has slowed to an average annual rate of 8% in the past five years, compared with 13% during the period 2011-2015. Between these two periods, the growth of hydropower supply fell from 15% to 5%, and the growth of thermal power (mainly coal) fell from 27% to 10%.
The construction of coal-fired power plants only reached 60% of the 2016-2020 target. It is planned to run ten major coal-fired power generation projects during this period with a total capacity of 7,000 megawatts, but all of these will not be completed before this year's deadline.
The report emphasizes that as the demand for electricity during the period 2021-2030 will increase at an annual rate of 8%, the delay of new coal-fired projects will pose a challenge to ensuring sufficient electricity supply in the next five years.
Minister Anh said that to ensure power safety, the ministry will work hard to complete the development of existing coal-fired projects that have been delayed in recent years.
